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PTIDec 22, 2014, 01.33PM IST

He reminded Parrikar that the implementation of same-rank same-pension scheme was BJP's 2014 election promise made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the campaigning at Bhiwani.

In his speech at Bhiwani, Modi had stated that if BJP came to power after the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP government would do justice to the ex-servicemen of the armed forces on the same rank-same pension issue.

One-rank, one-pension means soldiers of the same rank and the same length of service get the same pension, irrespective of their retirement date. For an example, a sepoy who retired in 1995 would get the same amount of pension as the one who retired in 1996.

According to Swamy, Parrikar told him that he is seized of the matter and is closely studying the issue with a view to finding a solution to the satisfaction of ex-servicemen.

The Defence Minister assured Swamy that an announcement on the issue of one-rank one-pension is expected to be made by the time of the Budget presentation in February next year.

The decision to implement the scheme was first announced by former Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the UPA government's interim Budget in February this year. Chidambaram had allocated Rs 500 crore for it.

The NDA government had allocated Rs 1000 crore for the scheme in its July Budget this year.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

DECEMBER 18, 2014

For many ex-servicemen the wait has been a long one. Their demand and fight for One Rank One Pension will become a reality soon. Sources tell OneIndia that the defence ministry is working over time to ensure that the same is implemented in quick time.

Manohar Parrikar, the defence minister of India was recently quoted as saying that the announcement of its implementation would be made in 4 to 8 weeks. Significance of OROP It is an equal demand for pensions. If an officer has retired last year and there is an increase in the pensions the following year owing to enhancements by the pay commissions then it is implemented only prospectively. Basically if an officer has retired in 1990 in the current scenario he is not entitled for an enhanced pension if the same is implemented during the later years.

The argument has been that the pension for officers of the same rank should remain the same at all times. This the ex servicemen had demanded as the costs of living was going up and the hike in pensions should benefit all and not just those who have recently retired.

Red tape

The government has time and again assured the ex servicemen that the OROP will be implemented. It was promised during the elections and even the Prime Minister had said that he was blessed to be the one implementing it. However there are certain teething issues that the government is facing on this front. Several ex servicemen say that they have done the rounds of various offices several times. However there has never been any clear response. They also have stated several times that the government or the political class needs to step on the gas pedal to push this issue through.

Budgetary allocation

Government sources say that the finance minister had already allocated Rs 1000 crore for the OROP. This itself is an indication that the government is committed to the cause. We agree there have been delays but work is on in full throttle now to dismantle all those bureaucratic hassles which had slowed down the process. The government says that unlike the previous regime we will not just make announcements and then forget about it. There are 24 lakh pensioners and all of it has to be taken into consideration.

There was also a bit of a delay as when the government took over it had appointed one man to handle both defence and finance. However now with the new defence minister taking charge this issue is being exclusively looked into. All bureaucratic hassles have been wiped out and an exclusive team is working on it, sources in the ministry informed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday promised a string of changes, including making the decision-making nimble and inclusive, to push his Make in India initiative, after 23 top bureaucrats suggested several initiatives and a stable policy regime to boost the anaemic manufacturing sector.Modi told a gathering comprising his cabinet colleagues, a battery of secretaries and industry captains, who spent close to 11 hours working out the country's manufacturing agenda, that NDA is now ready to change rules and laws to speed up processes.
“Government is generally trapped in `ABCD' culture from top to bottom.... A means Avoid, B-Bypass, CConfuse, D-Delay. Our effort is to move from this culture to `ROAD' where R stands for Responsibility, O-Ownership, A-Accountability, D-Discipline. We are committed to moving towards this roadmap,“ he said. Modi sought to make the traditional policy formulation model in government more open by saying that the public-private partnership model can be applied to the decisionmaking process itself.
The message of change had, however, gone down earlier with ministries and departments reworking their working style to deal with the government's new strategy. For instance, the revenue department assured the gathering that it had issued clear-cut guidelines that are consistent and predictable and will not result in tax officers going on fishing expeditions.The revenue secretary is learnt to have said that his department will work in line with the national objective of promoting manufacturing and follow a nonadversarial approach. Similarly, the defence ministry promised to change its approach in favour of the “private sector“ driving defence manufacturing, giving up its pro-public sector bias. It also indicated its willingness to open more sectors for private participation. The newly-set up skill development ministry too suggested that training should be imparted from school itself, a model that is followed in countries such as South Korea and China. The PM is learnt to have suggested that the ministry consult the sectors before finalizing the skill module.
The commerce ministry suggested that the import duty on gold be pared from 10% to 2%, a move that will not just help the gems and jewellery sector but also consumers in terms of lower cost of the yellow metal.
But it wasn't just the Centre, even states spoke of areas where they had made progress, with Maharashtra reading out a list of steps to improve the Ease of Doing Business ratings. The state chief secretary said the steps would help the government meet the goal of India breaking into the top 50 rankings in terms of Ease of Doing Business compared to its 142nd place.
The Chattisgarh chief secretary suggested that there should only be random checks, adding that there should be “no line instead of online“.
Modi said one of his main goals was to break down silos in government so that synergies and cooperation replaced turf wars and inertia that decrease transparency and increase scope for discretion and unaccountable behaviour.
The PM expressed satisfaction at the brainstorming session, saying the suggestions exemplified his vision of “minimum government, maximum governance“ and pitched for free movement of labour, machinery, natural resources and capital across the country.

﻿

﻿

Dec 30 2014 : The Times of India (Hyderabad)

PMO steps in to push stalled projects

Saurabh Sinha & Sidhartha

New Delhi: TNNIn its latest attempt to spur investment and get stalled projects moving, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has asked key infrastructure ministries to put together a list of long pending projects that have failed to take off due to state government-related hurdles. Sources said Nripendra Misra, principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has written to several secretaries, asking them to send a list by next Monday .“It has been observed that there are a large number of projects, both of the central government, state governments are held up due to ineffective handling of issues. The factors also include policies of the state governments, lack of prioritization at the state level or inadequate follow up from the Central level,“ Misra is learnt to have written to secretaries last week. Modi's chief of staff suggested that ministries take up the issues with the state governments and sort them out in a “timebound manner“. Separately , the department of industrial policy and promotion has prepared a checklist to make it easier for companies to do business, indicating that the government is keen to push reforms in states. The move comes after the Centre eased rules in several sectors and expedited environment and forest clearances to get several road, power and coal projects moving. There has been progress in other areas too, such as getting a green light from the defence ministry , which had in the past blocked proposals, citing strategic concerns. Even the home ministry has been asked to expedite all approvals.

Monday, December 29, 2014

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We are a 200 CR Pvt Ltd Travel company in the name of Wings Travels Management (I) Pvt Ltd. We are currently catering Radio Taxi, Car Rental, Visa, Travel and Tourism in Maharashtra, AP, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat etc. We are now planning to start our business in North India. The base office will be in Chandigarh.

We want to start a new initiative scheme only for ex-servicemen and the widows/dependents of them. The scheme will be "Chaalak hi Maalak". They have to pay a down payment of Rs.1 lac and we will provide them a brand new car which will be used as a Radio Taxi Service in Chandigarh. They will get business from us. We will provide them bookings through call center, mobile application or online facility. We will provide them an Android application on their mobile handsets which will help them getting bookings. Also the machanism is working on the GEO Fence and GEO Coding with the help of GPS. After completion of three years we will transfer the vehicle to the ex-servicemen. After that they will be the single owner of the car and their future earnings will be secured.

We will also generate the employment opportunities for the dependents and widows of ex-servicemen. We want all the staff of Chandigarh office to be hired from Armed Forces.

I am also from Indian Air Force Family. My father Hon Flg Offr K J Kumar AFSO got retired from Pune, 2 Wing in 2012 after completion of 38 years of service. I want to do something for Armed Forces personals after serving our nation.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

EX-SERVICEMEN ARE NOW UNITED
AND DETERMINED TO GET ONE RANK ONE PENSION (OROP) AS PER DEFINITION APPROVED BY PARLIAMENT: INDIAN EX-SERVICEMEN
MOVEMENT (IESM) CALLS FOR A MAHA RALLY ON 01 FEB 14 AT 1030H AT
JANTAR MANTAR -NEW DELHI

Ex-servicemen of India, who
had served their motherland for decades and then retired from active service,
are a neglected lot today. Their welfare has been neglected for over 60 years
and there is no one in Government who seems to care.India is the only country in the world that treats its ex-servicemen
as discarded ammunition,**GOOD FOR
NOTHING! UNFORTUNATE BUT TRUE!

( **Chief Minister of Punjab KAIRON HAD ONCE USED THE
TERMINOLOGY FOR VERERANS "KERNEL" OF MANGOES).

Ex-servicemen want a life of respect and recognition.
Ex-servicemen expect the Government and the nation to give them the due respect
for having served the country with their blood and life. Biggest loss to 98% of soldiers is that they are forced to retire
at the young age of 38 to 40yrs (just because profile of Armed Forces must be
kept young), whereas every other citizen of India has a right to work till 60
years of age and thus enjoys much higher pension.

Just to give an example: two
young men, with the same educational background, from a village take up a
Government job, one joins Indian army as a sepoy and other joins as a police
constable or clerk in Government dept. A soldier would be forced to retire
(provided he survives at borders and extreme weather) at the age of 38 to 40yrs
but his friend in other Government service will retain his job till 60 yrs of
age even if he is medically unfit and then retire and earn pension. The major
disadvantage which is forced on to soldier is that he experiences all hardships
and at times sacrifices his life in call of duty but will still earn about Rs
40 lakhs less than his friend if they both survive till the age of 70 years.

The moot question is: why this indifference to a soldier who is
ready to sacrifice his life for safety of country and countrymen? Is it not the
responsibility of the citizens of this great country and the Government to take
care of welfare of the brave soldier and his family when he is in active
service and after his retirement and to look after his family after his
sacrifice in line of duty? Alas!! It is not happening in India. The citizen and
the Government are indifferent to the brave soldier and this neglect has
brought the soldier to such penury that even the Honorable Supreme Court had
commented that the Government of India is treating its soldiers/ ex-servicemen
like beggars.

Ex-servicemen are disciplined by nature. They do not approve of
any disruption to civil society and respect freedom of all citizens.
Ex-servicemen approached the Government with their demands and problems
peacefully. Government did not pay heed to the woes of Ex-servicemen.
Ex-servicemen resented this ill treatment; they decided to agitate peacefully
like any citizen of India. Ex-servicemen resorted to return of gallantry medals
and submitted memorandums signed in their own blood. This resulted in a big hue
and cry and poor state of ex-servicemen was reported in international press.
This forced the UPA Government to accept the demand of Ex-servicemen and their
most cherished demand of OROP was approved in the budget on 17 Feb 14.

NDA Government followed suit and also approved OROP in the budget
presented on 10 June 14. OROP has been thus approved by two parliaments; it has
become statute, was a personal commitment of PM Sh Narenedra Modi and was
approved by all political parties of India. Ex-servicemen were elated that at
last their dream of OROP would become a reality. Alas this was not to be so;
their expectations were shattered when issuance of Government notification for
OROP got stuck in bureaucratic quagmire. Government has failed to issue
notification for the payment of OROP dues even after 10 months of its approval.
An indicator of GOOD GOVERNANCE of NDA Government!!

Ex-servicemen got united and decided to resume their agitation
from 3 Dec to 16 Dec 14 to remind the Government of their commitment and for
early issuance of OROP notification. Thousands of Ex-servicemen and other ESM
organizations vowed to join in the agitation.ESM UNITY WAS FORGED FOR OROP.

Sh Rajeev Chandrashekhar, MP Rajya Sabha, then approached IESM
and advised them to cancel the agitation and suggested that the Government be
given more time to issue notification. IESM was not willing to cancel the plan
of agitation. Sh Rajeev Chandrashekhar then offered to arrange a meeting with
Raksha Mantri to discuss the issue and understand RM’s thought process on OROP.

IESM met hon’ble Raksha Mantri on 9 Dec 14. Raksha Mantri personally assured
the delegation that he had understood the nuances and finer points of OROP.RM cleared his thought process on yearly increments in defence
pension as defined in OROP.RM also brought
out wide difference in the expenditure on account of OROP. IESM delegation made
it clear to him that finance experts of MOD must have worked out the
expenditure for OROP at the time of budget allocation. Expenditure on OROP
should be same as estimated for the budget presented in the Parliament by
Finance Minister.

Bureaucrats are now inflating the figure only to confuse the
issue and deny OROP to Armed Forces. RM assured the delegation that his mind is
clear on OROP and implementation order for OROP would be out soon. IESM
delegation expressed their fear to RM that bureaucrats would certainly attempt
to insert commas and full stops to distort or dilute the definition of OROP. RM
personally assured that he would not permit any dilution in the definition.
IESM delegation came back reassured that the issue of OROP was in right hands
and for the first time, in sixty years, Ex-servicemen felt that they would not
be denied justice.

Their joy was short-lived, as RM in his interview with Head Lines
Today on 16 Dec 14 shattered their hopes when he stated that it would not be
possible to meet 100% satisfaction for OROP. He further stated that Government
is likely to give 80% to 90% OROP to Ex-servicemen. This statement was a big
reversal on his promise on OROP. Ex-servicemen are aghast on this statement and
have decided to resume the agitation for pressing their demand for 100% OROP.

Ex-servicemen ask only one question from citizen of India; would they approve
if Armed Forces fight the enemy or terrorists with 80% efficiency? Armed Forces
lost 527 martyrs and 1363 soldiers were seriously injured/maimed during Kargil
war because they gave more than 100% under extremely hostile conditions and won
the war in 1999 for motherland. Armed Forces lost many more comrades in
terrorist actions because they always give more than 100%. If India does
not accept less than 100% efficiency from Armed Forces then why grant only 80%
of OROP, this is beyond our comprehension. IESM requests Honorable RM not to
fall in the trap of bureaucrats and grant 100% OROP at the earliest.

IESM has full faith in leadership of Hon’ble RM
and expect that he would soon find a suitable solution to overrule the
machinations of bureaucrats against OROP and Armed Forces of India. IESM
expects Hon’ble RM to fulfill his commitments made to IESM and other ESM
organizations.

IESM has
received calls from thousands of veterans and many ESM organizations that they
are willing to support the agitation planned by IESM to press for 100%
satisfaction on OROP.

IESM is
steadfast that OROP has only one definition. This definition has been approved
by the Parliament and any deviation/ dilution would NOT be accepted in the
definition of OROP.

IESM requests all Ex-servicemen and ESM organizations to join
in a MAHA RALLY ON 1 FEB 14 SUNDAY AT JANTAR MANTAR NEW DELHI TO PRESS FOR FULL
OROP AS PER APPROVED DEFINITION.

DEAR EX-SERVICEMEN, NOW IS THE TIME TO UNITE AND GET YOUR DEMANDS
APPROVED. JOIN IESM MAHA RALLY ON 1 FEB 14 SUNDAY AT 1030 H AT JANTAR MANTAR IN
NEW DELHI IN LARGE NUMBERS TO ENSURE THAT GOVERNMENT TAKESYOUR DEMANDS SERIOUSLY AND APPROVES THEM.

Fifteen months after Mr Modi demanded One Rank One Pension, 10 months after the UPA granted it, five months after Arun Jaitley reconfirmed it and two months after the PM boasted in Siachen that “One Rank One Pension has been fulfilled,” why is this promise still not implemented? And why are exservicemen still in doubt about when and even whether it will happen?

The truth is this is a promise Mr Modi’s government intends to break. It’s already late in fulfilling it but now it’s indicated it will also renege. At a recent Aaj Tak conclave, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said ex-servicemen would get 80% of OROP and then added “100% satisfaction to everyone is never given in real life”. Why then did Messrs Modi and Jaitley promise the full whack and on what basis did the former claim it had been fulfilled?

Were they misleading the armed forces with pre-election promises that were beguiling and likely to win support, but which they had not thought through? Today, doesn’t it seem like that? And if approximately two million ex-servicemen and 400,000 widows feel cheated aren’t they justified? I’m told it’s the cost of OROP that’s made the government reconsider. The Comptroller of Defence Accounts has estimated it could be ` 9,300 crore. But three years ago the Cabinet Secretary estimated the cost at ` 8,000-9,000 crore. So if it’s gone up to ` 9,300 crore, surely inflation accounts for the increase?

More importantly, did Mr Chidambaram in February, when he made the commitment, and Mr Jaitley in July, when he reconfirmed it, not take this into account? If they didn’t it would amount to more than negligence; it would be rank irresponsibility.

Now consider what Mr Parrikar’s reduction of OROP to 80% would save. A paltry ` 1,860 crore. As Defence Minister is he seriously saying this is too much to give the armed forces, who are prepared to lay down their lives for our security?

There are good reasons why the armed forces deserve OROP. First, the majority of officers retire at 54 whilst 85% of jawans before they are 40. Civil servants continue till they are 60. Politicians, frequently, into their 80s. In fact, the disparity is worse. An IAS officer becomes a joint secretary after only 19 years of service. The equivalent grade in the army is major general, but it takes an officer 30 years to attain that rank. Also, all IAS officers retire at least with joint secretary pensions. Only 0.8% of army officers become major generals.

However, it’s not the government alone that I blame for this unprincipled behaviour. The Congress’s lack of concern about a commitment it first made is no less deplorable. They’ve gone out of their way to place obstacles in the path of coal and insurance — where cooperation would have been preferable — but they’re unconcerned about OROP, which is crying out for attention.

Karamn Thapar

In fact, OROP is a genuine instance of a BJP U-turn but it doesn’t feature in the list Congress released a few weeks ago. That proves it wasn’t following the issue. And that’s because it doesn’t matter to the Congress.

The truth is Indian politicians have let down the armed forces. As far back as 2003, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence recommended OROP, calling it “a debt”. Both parties promised to deliver. But now the government is scaling down its promise whilst the opposition is either unconcerned or silent.

In response to our letter d/d 30.0.14, MOD replied vide their letter d/d 16.12.2014, stating that -" The principle of One Rank One Pension for the Armed Forces has been accepted by the Government. The modalities for implementation have been discussed with various stakeholders and are presently under consideration. The same will be implemented once the modalities are finalised."

Friday, December 26, 2014

PTI[ Updated 26 Dec 2014, 18:23:57 ]

Panaji: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said that ‘one-rank one-pension’ policy would be implemented in the defence forces before the next budget. “One-man one-pension policy will be implemented. We are right now working on its detailing,” Parrikar said. The implementation has lot of financial implications which are being worked out, he said.

“It has lot of financial implications. Details would be available only once we work it out,” Parrikar said. ‘One-rank, one-pension’ policy means soldiers of the same rank and same length of service get the same pension irrespective of their retirement date. Parrikar said the announcement to implement the policy was made in the last budget.

“Now we will have to implement it. I have kept a target that it will be implemented before the next budget. My effort is to ensure that it should be implemented as soon as possible. My target is that it should not wait for the next budget,” he said.

The Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar has directed MoD officials to evolve a policy for reducing court cases in service matters including pensions. In a message on the occasion of the Good Governance Day today, he said, minimization of litigation is a priority and that issues of cantonments pertaining to land management and civilian interface should also be resolved without delay.

Following is the full text of the message of the Defence Minister:

“The Government of India is celebrating 25th December as Good Governance Day. Ministry of Defence takes pride in joining this occasion for bringing in transparency and accountability in its working. Greater emphasis is being given to the use of technology in order to make the system prompt and efficient and to bridge the divide between the Government and the citizens

Ministry of Defence has adopted a number of Good Governance initiatives like promoting e-Governance, e-Procurement, Biometric Attendance, Jeevan Pramaan, Digitization of records, online disposal of Public Grievances and use of online monitoring of the status of Court/Tribunal/NHRC cases. An Intra-MoD Portal has been developed for supporting these applications in the Ministry.

Directorate General of Defence Estates have made good progress in digitization of Defence Land records. History division of the Ministry has also digitized War Records. Several other digitized records viz. Recruitment Rules, civil lists etc are likely to be placed on our website very soon.

This Ministry is committed to early implementation of One Rank One Pension for the Armed Forces and measures are being taken for the same. Minimization of litigation is a priority and I have instructed the concerned officers to evolve a policy for reducing court cases in service matters including pensionsas well as in issues of cantonments pertaining to land management and civilian interface.

The Public Grievances are being forwarded to the concerned officers using online methods. In this context, I have directed all concerned to accord utmost importance to time- bound disposal of Public Grievances in the Ministry as also regular monitoring of the pendency of Public Grievances by senior officers.

I welcome you all to join this celebration and invite your valuable suggestions and ideas to further the cause of Good Governance. You may post/send your ideas on our email nic-asst.mod@nic.in.”

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

The'deeply hurt, bruised and wounded conscience of ex-servicemen of India's Armed Forces', are expressing their anguish towards the bureaucracy, who they feel is responsible for the step-motherly treatment meted out to defence forces all the time

Cdr Ravindra Waman Pathak (Retd), a member of the Governing Body and Pension Cell of IESM, wrote an open letter to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. In the letter, Cdr Pathak has raised several issues like the long-standing demand of ex-servicemen for ‘one rank, one pension’ (OROP).

In the letter Cdr Pathak has expressed deep anguish regarding the bureaucracy, which he feels is responsible for the step-motherly treatment meted out to defence forces. "It is this specially empowered bureaucracy which, without even a shred of any commensurate knowledge, over the past 67 years, has mastered and honed the craft of repeatedly hurting the pride and morale of the soldiers' right from the Chiefs to the sepoy. 'Jai Jawan' is handy only at crunch time or prior to elections, where after the Armed Forces are routinely relegated to the status of a 'necessary evil' type heavy baggage that the nation, perforce, has to be burdened with. This bureaucracy has been successful in contouring the political thought process in the same mould," he said.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

President of India in his Address to the Joint Session of Parliament on 9.6.2014, inter-alia mentioned that Government will appoint a Veterans Commission to address their grievances. The proposal regarding setting up of the Commission is under consideration of the Government.

No funds have been allocated for setting up the Veterans Commission during the year 2014-15.

This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh in a written reply to ShriRajeev Chandrasekhar in Rajya Sabha today.

National Ex- Servicemen Co-ordination Committee members held a protest at Jantar Mantar on Monday

Enraged with the delay in implementing the scheme, all ex-servicemen criticized the incumbent government’s 'double standards' towards the army men

Now employed as a security guard in a government bank, Harwinder Singh, retired from the armed forces in 2008. Sharing his predicament, Harwinder confesses that he does not want his children to serve the nation as army men. “I have been forced to take up a job after retirement to sustain my family because the pension that ex-servicemen receive is too less to manage our expenses. I will never let my children work in army until heavy reforms are introduced to improve the deplorable condition of jawans, who fight and sacrifice their lives for the nation.”

Echoing the concern of many ex-servicemen like Harwinder, members of National Ex- Servicemen Co-ordination Committee (an apex body of ex servicemen organization) gathered at Jantar Mantar on Monday demanding immediate implementation of 'One Rank One Pension' (OROP) scheme. Veterans, along with war widows, from all over India also joined the protest.

The scheme that demands equal pensions for retired soldiers of the same rank and length of service, regardless of when they retired was also a part of BJP's manifesto in the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year. “Honourable PM Narendra Modi Jee raised a lot of concerns for the deplorable conditions of the retired servicemen. Six months have passed by since the BJP government has come to power after winning with a clear majority, however, nothing has changed on the ground,” mentioned one of the speakers of the committee.

Enraged with the delay in implementing the scheme, all ex-servicemen criticized the incumbent government’s 'double standards' towards the army men. Expressing his anguish Ramanand Yadav, who had travelled all the way to Delhi from Gorakhpur to be a part of the protest said, “We were hopeful that the new government will understand the plight of retired servicemen, but ever since they have come to power, they seem to have forgotten the sacrifices that we, as army men, made for the nation.”

Ramanad retired from the air force in 1998 as junior engineer and holds a diploma in technical education. “After retirement, I was being offered a job of security guard. Having served as a junior engineer, I could not take up that job. So, I decided to go back to my village and reside there. The soaring inflation does not allow us to do much with a pension of mere Rs 7,000.”

A cross section of speakers, during the rally, emphasized on the importance of the scheme that was commenced in the early eighties, when the rank wise pension of ex-servicemen were discontinued and their pension were clubbed with central government employees in 1973. At present, the army men who had retired before 2006 are compelled to live under meagre pension spanning across Rs 7,000 to Rs 9,000 .

Highlighting other instances of ‘discrimination’ within the army fraternity against the jawans, Venkatesh Narayan from Chandigarh, pointed out, “Once we are out of the army, we get a subsidy of Rs 3,500 while the officers get a subsidy of Rs 20,000, to make purchases from the army canteen. The huge gap says a lot about the position of jawans in the country.”

Talking about the long battle being waged by the National Ex-Servicemen Co-ordination Committee, Uma Shankar Sharma, General Secretary, shared , “ We have been demanding OROP since 1983 since the date of its inception. We presented this demand before the high level committee and a committee appointed by Government of India, Ministry of Defense, in 1990. The central government did not implement the scheme, although it had been recommended by Parliamentary Committee including Committee of Petitions headed by Shri Bhagat Singh Koshiary, Honorable MP Rajya Sabha on more than one occasion.”

Elaborating further, he said, “The organisation planned to return the gallantry awards to Honourable President of India, but relented following the advice of then Prime Minister of India. Political parties across party line have backed OROP both inside and outside the Parliament and have mentioned it in their manifestos.”

Approximately 32 lakh ex-servicemen are still waiting for the implementation of the welfare scheme. Although the incumbent government has already allotted Rs 1,000 crore for the scheme, it has failed to provide a roadmap to implement OROP.

Meanwhile, after the protest, the ex-servicemen submitted a memorandum with a charter of demands to the President of India , Prime Minister of India, Chairman Rajya Sabha and speaker Lok Sabha.

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